Michael Koziol

A speaker at the upcoming Festival of Dangerous Ideas will seek to defend so-called honour killings - the murder of women deemed to have brought shame or dishonour on their family.

Uthman Badar, a Sydney-based Muslim speaker, writer and activist, will deliver a presentation titled "Honour killings are morally justified" and argue that such acts are seized on by Westerners as a symbol of everything they dislike about another culture.

The announcement sparked condemnation on social media from those arguing the Opera House stage should not be used as a platform for such radical and confronting propositions.

"This man is being given a platform at a reputable event to apologise for the murder of women," wrote consultant Steve Hind on his blog, calling for a boycott. Mr Badar is speaking alone and will not be debated by an opponent.

Mr Hind said that while Mr Badar has every right to make the speech, "as a free society we have every right to boycott organisations and companies - like the Festival of Dangerous Ideas - that seek to make money from or generate publicity by promoting ideas and speech that we find objectionable or hateful".

Eleanor Gordon-Smith, a writer and ethics student, previously organised a series of talks at the University of Sydney designed to challenge orthodox ideas. She said the inclusion of Mr Badar's presentation looks like a marketing stunt to shock people and prove the festival can live up to its ''dangerous'' title.

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"I think it's free speech and outrage for its own sake, not for the sake of seeking truth," Ms Gordon-Smith said. "If it's not hate speech, it's seriously ignorant speech."

Joint founder and co-curator of the festival Simon Longstaff said the idea is one he had consistently nominated for six years, because the point of the event is to push boundaries "to the point where you become extremely uncomfortable". He said Mr Badar has consented to the title and description of the presentation.

Co-curator Ann Mossop told Fairfax Media the speech will "obviously" not advocate honour killings but will discuss the framework in which the killings take place. She said many of the other sessions will present ideas that are considered ''feminist'' such as ''Women for sale'', a discussion of sex trafficking.

"Nobody needs to attend [Mr Badar's] session if they don't want to. Taking [it] in isolation is misleading, I think."

Mr Badar is an Australian spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir, a group described by the festival as "global advocacy group working for positive change in the Muslim world via the re-establishment of the Islamic Caliphate" - a state under sharia, or Islamic law.

The United Nations reports that about 5000 women are killed in such circumstances every year.

Feminist author Eva Cox said the inclusion of Mr Badar's presentation was "tacky" and possibly unethical if the title turns out to misrepresent the extent of his argument. She said it carries the risk of further demonising Muslims in eyes of many Australians.

"You're setting somebody up to knock them off in a sense," Ms Cox said. She noted ''honour killings'' take place in several religions and are more of a cultural phenomenon practised in the Mediterranean and North Africa, rather than being particular to Islam.

Mr Longstaff said Mr Badar is not speaking as a representative of Islam but as an individual who happens to be a Muslim.

"There are vast differences of opinion within the Muslim community … on this question and others," he said.

Mr Badar has been contacted for comment. The festival is on August 30 and 31.